Waiting For Forever
by LittleAlbatross
Summary: The Doctor and Rose are finally reunited and all it took was the collapse of the universe.


The Doctor stared at the scene in front of him in shock. It wasn't the universe collapsing before his very eyes that shocked him. It wasn't the millions of species fighting each other for dominance in a world that was about to end anyway. It wasn't the fact that everything everywhere and every time was about to become nothing. It wasn't even the fact that he was witnessing history and was going to have no one to tell when it was over that shocked him. It was the fact that standing in front of him was a woman.

In all of his 900 plus years of life, he'd never had both of his hearts stop at once. Well, that wasn't true, it had happened once before. The moment he realized he'd lost her. But that had been a different kind of stopping. It had been bad. That had been the moment he died. This time when his hearts skipped a beat, it was just like in one of those cheesy American romance novels with heaving bosoms and ripped bodices. This heart stopping was good. This was the moment he came back to life.

Standing in front of him was a gloriously disheveled blond. Her bosom WAS heaving and her t-shirt WAS torn. Her hair was a mess and her mascara was running but she looked beautiful. She looked REAL. She looked like Rose.

"Hello," the sassy blonde said.

"You-you're real? I haven't been sat on by a Jagrafess or something and this is some strange dream I'm having while regenerating? I didn't eat bad pizza, because let me tell you that last planet was full of it—slimy, nasty green stuff. Maybe _it_ was sat on by a Jagrafess. I mean you're really here, really really here? And you're really…Rose? Rose Tyler? MY Rose Tyler?"

"Doctor, you claim to have all the knowledge in the world and you can't even tell when I'm standing in front of ya? Really now, maybe you were the seat cushion for that old Jagrabelly or whatever," she smirked.

He knew when she said "Doctor" that it was really her. No one else ever said Doctor quite like she did. Even when she said it in anger, it still sounded like the most important word in the world. He let her keep going though, just to hear her speak—to hear her silly accent in all its beauty. He hadn't known how much he'd loved that accent until it was gone and he realized he was hearing far too many "th's" and never enough "f's". Even little things like that, _especially_ little things like that had made him miss her even more.

But now he'd had far too much time observing her, listening to her, and even smelling her. He could smell sweet scent she left behind everywhere she went. The Tardis had smelt like her for weeks after she left. Her sweet aroma was mixed with the sharp smell of sweat from her struggle to get to him. He was done with all those other senses. He was ready to touch her—to taste her.

What should have taken him 10 steps took him half of that to close the space between him and his one true companion. She was crying when he reached her, but he was grinning. The grin he reserved just for her, and just for moments like this. He knew she'd recognize that smile.

"Hello," he said and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up against him. He could feel every contact point between their two bodies and he was sure that they were both having trouble breathing, but he wasn't going to let anything come between them ever again. He stared into her giant blue eyes for just a moment before he closed the rest of the space between their two bodies by giving her a perfect, time stopping kiss. He was certain he heard _her_ single human heart skip a beat this time.

He felt her arms tighten around him and one of them wander up his back to grasp the hair on the back of his head. His skin was on fire everywhere she touched, and he was sure he could feel every individual hair she played with. She was giving him goosebumps and he liked it, so he mimicked her actions, allowing his own hand to stray up the middle of her back and lock in place in her hair, pulling her even closer in the process. He felt her shiver and he smiled into the kiss.

"Doctor," she murmured into his lips.

"Rose," he whispered back, before re-engaging in their previous activity.

He really was starting to hurt for air when he began to withdraw from her beautifully warm and welcoming mouth.

"No," she protested and started to pull him back towards her. Her eyes were closed, but he could still see the dreamy expression on her face by the small smile on her full lips and the way her head was slightly tilted to the left.

"Yes," the Doctor replied and then grinned at the way her now very familiar lips turned instantly from a smile to a very becoming pout, "Yes, because there's something I need to say to you."

He waited for her to open her eyes and look into his own before he continued.

"Rose Tyler, I love you, and it literally took me forever to say it."

She smiled and in her trademark way, began to cry again. He moved both of his hands to the sides of her face and wiped away her tears with his thumbs as she spoke.

"You know, I had to come to the end of the universe to find you. I mean the END of the universe. The rifts here are all weak and crumbly like mum's baking. Dad helped me. We've been searching over all time and space to find a spot weak enough for me to get through, and now, it's the end. Of everything," she said with a sad smile.

"Not quite. It's a good thing I'm a Time Lord and it's a doubly good thing I'm here to save the day,"

"You really are full of it aren't you?"

"Yeah, now come on," he said reaching down to grab her hand. He pulled their clasped hands up between their faces and they both grinned at the familiar sight, and then he very noisily kissed the back of her hand, causing Rose to laugh.

"Love that sound," he said, leaving Rose quite unsure as to whether he was referring to the kiss or her laughter, "Now come on, we've a universe to save."

"Wait, Doctor, is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked causing him to stop abruptly in his tracks, which caused her to run smack into the middle of his trench coat covered back. He steadied her when he turned around by grabbing both of her arms and then he looked straight into her eyes.

"Yeah."


End file.
